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Election Eve: Looking Ahead at Post-Election Northern Ontario – by Livio Di Matteo (October 4, 2011)

Livio Di Matteo is Professor of Economics at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Visit his new Economics Blog “Northern Economist” at http://ldimatte.shawwebspace.ca/

The time has comes to take stock of the implications for the North of the potential outcomes of the October 6th provincial election. According to the polls, it is a close race and the possibility of a minority government is high.  At the same time, polls do not always fully predict the outcome and much depends on the concentration of party support across the various ridings, as well as the actual voter turnout.  What can we expect the morning after?

Whatever party forms the government, expect to see the donning of sackcloth and ashes as it suddenly becomes apparent that the economy is on the verge of recession, the stock markets have dropped 20 percent and the province’s coffers are bare as a result of a massive deficit.  All those rosy revenue forecasts that were going to see the budget balanced by 2017 will now go out the window.  Expect to see announcements of government expenditure cuts, freezes and restructuring as well as the discussion of temporary “revenue enhancements.” A Liberal or NDP backed government will likely favor revenue enhancements over expenditure cuts while a Conservative government is more likely to favor cuts or restructuring.

Should the Liberals win another majority, it will be interpreted as a vindication for their program of policies, especially their job creation strategy focused on Green Energy.  As for the North, it means the Far North Act will stay in place.  For the North, a Liberal majority win will put it in an odd situation. 

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Can’t wait forever (New KI mining conflict) – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (October 2, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation has a reputation for making demands. But what does it want?

KI, formerly called Big Trout Lake, insists it wants to share in a resurgent mining boom in the Far North, but on its own terms. So far, those terms remain elusive.

Miners and First Nations need to negotiate terms acceptable to both, with oversight by the province which is responsible for mining and Crown land. Such talks have led to several successful partnerships here in the North but other relations are strained or broken.

KI forced mining exploration company Platinex to cease operations 60 kilometres from the community over allegations the band had not been properly consulted or respected concerning its traditional territory. In 2009 the province agreed to pay $5 million to Platinex to give up its mining claims. The signal to the mining industry was clear; the loss of jobs and revenue to KI, incalculable.

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Let’s talk, miner tells KI – by Bryan Meadows (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – September 30, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

A junior exploration company that Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation is trying to kick off its traditional territory says its attempts to consult with the band have been met with silence.

God’s Lake Resources CEO Ed Ludwig said Thursday that the company has tried to meet with the band, without success, about the existence of sacred burial sites near where the company is exploring for gold in the Sherman Lake area.

“We were told about (the potential of grave sites in the area) and have asked the chief and elders to locate them,” said Ludwig, adding that the province has made the same request.

“We’ve asked that they please come and show us . . . we want to show the proper respect.

“I want to respect that avenue and develop a boundary, but when questioned about where there might be grave sites, the band has provided no response,” he said.

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Shut down miner: KI [northern Ontario gold junior conflict] – by Bryan Meadows (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – September 29, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

NORTHWEST BUREAU

The chief of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation is calling on the province to stop a gold exploration company from working on a KI ancestral burial site.

“Our ancestors deserve a place where they can rest undisturbed,” Chief Donny Morris said Wednesday. “People everywhere understand that cemeteries are sacred places. But in Sherman Lake, they want to put a gold mine on one.”

The band claims that mining exploration company God’s Lake Resources has staked new claims despite KI’s well-publicized moratorium, and that the company has worked the site in spite of being informed that multiple grave sites are within the claim area.

Government officials have told the band that they are powerless to stop God’s Lake from working their claims in spite of bands indigenous title, and spiritual connection to the area. The growing conflict closely mirrors the events that led to the jailing of Morris and five other KI leaders in 2008 for refusing to allow platinum mining exploration on their homeland, the band says.

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Forestry seen as key issue in Ontario election – Special to The Chronicle-Journal (September 23, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

The three sitting political parties at Queen’s Park are weighing in on a key election issue in Northwestern Ontario, the forestry sector.

In July, the Ontario Forest Industries Association, the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce, the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association and the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities developed a series of questions for the Liberals, NDP and Tories to answer on forestry policies.

The responses were released on Thursday.

“We’re very pleased that all three parties took the time and effort to respond,” said Scott Jackson, manager of forest policy with the Ontario Forest Industries Association. “It’s very clear that forestry is a key issue going into this election, and rightfully so.”

The questions addressed timber production, the Endangered Species Act, the caribou conservation plan, the Ontario Forest Tenure Modernization Act, road construction and maintenance, and electricity rates.

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The forest and the trees [Aboriginal social issues] – Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial (September 22, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

IN MATTERS of public policy, it’s sometimes difficult getting to the heart of the matter. Large bureaucracies formed to address major issues often are unable to tackle them on a community level, let alone among individuals who “fall through the cracks” in the all-too-familiar phrase.

A variety of northern lifestyle issues currently challenges regional authorities: rampant drunkenness in Thunder Bay; painkiller addiction in Marten Falls and other First Nations; violence and abuse across the Far North; the unexplained deaths of seven aboriginal youth who came to Thunder Bay for schooling.

It would be difficult to catalogue the number of services, agencies and departments that are set up to address these very things. Federal, provincial and municipal governments and First Nation organizations spend billions of tax dollars to operate programs aimed at pressing social issues. Yet many of the issues are getting worse.

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Why Premier McGuinty is Not in Thunder Bay Today for leadership debate – by Livio Di Matteo (September 23, 2011)

Livio Di Matteo is Professor of Economics at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Visit his new Economics Blog “Northern Economist” at http://ldimatte.shawwebspace.ca/

Today is the NOMA (Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association) provincial party leaders debate in Thunder Bay between Tim Hudak and Andrea Horwath.  Premier McGuinty has declined to attend.  The premier apparently has a previous engagement and furthermore probably believes that as the premier for all Ontario, debates should be held with the entire province rather than a single region as the stage.  The outrage in the North has been palpable but in simple cost-benefit terms, if I were the premier, I would have made the same decision.

I probably also would have added that the debate seemed exclusionary and elitist given that according to my last look it required a 95 dollar conference admission fee.  But then what do I know, I’m an economist, not a political advisor. By the way, the debate is being webcast on the NOMA site . Web Coverage is also available on Netnewsledger.com.

For Dalton McGuinty, coming to Northern Ontario for a regional debate is fraught with high costs and little in the way of benefits.  This is a region – that usually tends to vote Liberal or NDP anyway.  It generally is not an arena for rational and open debate with a reasonable chance that you can change someone’s mind, but a highly partisan political herd environment.  In some ridings, the tradition is to vote Liberal and when you want to punish the Liberals you vote NDP. 

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Look no further [Ring of Fire refinery – Greenstone] – Special to The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal (September 21, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

For the web’s largest database of articles on the Ring of Fire mining camp, please go to: Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

The Township of Greenstone wants to be chosen as the site of a ferrochrome refinery as part of the Ring of Fire development.

George Smitherman, chairman of G&G Global Solutions, said during a presentation on Tuesday that Exton is the most viable site for the chromite refinery.

“At the heart of Exton’s strength is its proximity to the mine site and its relationship with First Nations,” Smitherman, a former provincial Energy minister, said in an interview following his presentation in Thunder Bay.

“What we were able to do is construct a resolution that is a benefit to so many players and brings more opportunities to First Nation communities and is the most environmentally sustainable.” Exton is located on the CNR mainline between Nakina and the Aroland First Nation, and south of the Ring of Fire development.

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Investing in Remote [Canadian] Regions: Building the Business Case – by Livio Di Matteo (September 19, 2011)

Livio Di Matteo is Professor of Economics at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Visit his new Economics Blog “Northern Economist” at http://ldimatte.shawwebspace.ca/

Out of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce comes a new report titled” The Business Case for Investing in Canada’s Remote Communities,” which argues that Canadians need to start looking at remote communities somewhat differently. 

Despite the perception (and often the reality) that remote communities are dependent on government assistance for their survival, the new reality is that as the demand for resources rises and the international community flocks to Canadian resources in remote areas, these remote communities are wealth generators that will enhance the living standards of all Canadians.  Moreover, the aboriginal population is concentrated in these areas and resource development is an important tool to improve their economic welfare.

There are of course challenges.  As the report notes:

“There is no doubt that many remote communities-which are often difficult to reach, have challenging geographies, harsh climates, limited infrastructure and sparse populations – face significant challenges to their long-term social and economic sustainability.”

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Northern [Ontario] debate the day’s priority – (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal editorial – September 16, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

THE LIBERALS had to know this was coming. Yet they went ahead in spite of the downside, apparently preferring it to having party leaders debate Northern Ontario issues in Thunder Bay where the Liberals hold both seats. The political blowback is coming hard and fast, and with seven days to go it can only get worse.

Last month, three key regional organizations formally confirmed an invitation to provincial party leaders to debate northern issues at a conference here Sept. 23, in the midst of the provincial election campaign.

The Northwestern Ontario Regional Conference is hosted by the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA), the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce (NOACC) and the Northwestern Ontario Development Network (NODN). It brings together municipal, business and economic development leaders from across the Northwest.

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Two of three will be here [Northern Ontario leadership debate] – (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal editorial – September 15, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

FROM time to time, politicians find themselves in no-win situations. Such was the case for Ontario’s three leading political party leaders when they were invited to participate in an election debate in Thunder Bay on northern issues. Attend and set a precedent that other regions will notice. Refuse and face a backlash from northern voters.

Handlers for Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty, Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak and NDP leader Andrea Horwath did neither of these things at the outset. For weeks following an invitation from the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association, the three camps bobbed and weaved, trying to figure out what the others would do while keeping NOMA and northerners waiting.

In the end, it was Horwath who forced the issue. In a letter to NOMA on Tuesday, the NDP leader accepted the invitation. In fact, Horwath had been after her competitors from the start of talks for the televised province-wide leaders debate to have two others outside Toronto, one here in the North. Parties deferred to the TV network consortium which did not offer more than the Toronto forum.

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Rocks, trees … medical research? Thunder Bay aims to reinvent itself – by Gordon Pitts (Globe and Mail – September 13, 2011)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

THUNDER BAY – Rory Carrillo grew up loving his native California for its heady brew of ideas and people, and the moderate weather that allowed him to train year-round as a triathlete. Yet three months ago, this son of Los Angeles washed up on the shores of Lake Superior – in the blue-collar Northern Ontario city of Thunder Bay.

“I wanted to go some place different,” said Mr. Carrillo, 28, and few places could be more different than Thunder Bay, a city with a ravaged forestry industry, a proud but underused port, and long cold winters.

Mr. Carrillo is the new face of Thunder Bay, as it strives to pull off a near-impossible task for a once resource-dominated economy – to reinvent itself as a place where brains rather than commodities are the building blocks.

He has what The Lakehead desperately wants – knowledge, specifically medical-technology knowledge. He has a masters in biomedical engineering, and five years experience with a big medical devices firm in San Francisco.

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Bye bye Howie [Hampton] – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – September 4, 2011)

Christina Blizzard is the Queen’s Park columnist for the Toronto Sun, the city’s daily tabloid newspaper.  christina.blizzard@sunmedia.ca

Around here’s he’s just known as Howie. When Howard Hampton quietly announced last month that he wouldn’t be running in the Oct. 6 election, it caused surprisingly few ripples in the Queen’s Park political pond.

When he stepped down as leader after the 2007 election, many pundits were surprised he stayed on as MPP for Kenora-Rainy River.

In his northern riding, his departure signals a seismic shift in the political tectonics. Hampton is a powerful political force in northwestern Ontario.

As NDP leader, he often fought a long, lonely battle to put northern issues on the government’s agenda. He is the quintessential small-town northern son.

Raised in Fort Frances, a gritty mill town across the border from Minnesota, his father worked in the local pulp mill. His brother still works there.

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Northern [Ontario Kenora] riding in transition – by Christina Blizzard (Toronto Sun – September 4, 2011)

Christina Blizzard is the Queen’s Park columnist for the Toronto Sun, the city’s daily tabloid newspaper.  christina.blizzard@sunmedia.ca

Kenora- Rainy River up for grabs since Howard Hampton unexpectedly ended his 24-year political career

KENORA — Husky the Muskie presides over the waterfront in this gloriously beautiful northwestern city on the Lake of the Woods.

The giant fish statue is the place where newlyweds go to get their pictures taken. You have to think Husky was shocked to the gills, like everyone else here, when veteran New Democrat MPP Howard Hampton recently pulled the plug on his 24-year political career.

You even wonder if New Democrats in the former NDP leader’s own Kenora-Rainy River riding were ready for him to hand over the baton. Local Liberals were clearly caught off-guard.

Anthony Leek, the young Emo councillor who’s carrying their banner is certainly sincere, but at 27, hardly brings much by way of a track record to the race.

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Ontario’s Provincial Election and the North: What Is the Issue? – by Livio Di Matteo (September 9, 2011)

Livio Di Matteo is Professor of Economics at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Visit his new Economics Blog “Northern Economist” at http://ldimatte.shawwebspace.ca/

“Indeed, the most innovative set of Northern policies ever
proposed in my living memory was the Peterson government of
the 1980s which set forth three planks: the Northern Ontario
Heritage Fund, Northern Health Travel Grants and a program
of decentralization of provincial government offices to the
north.  Since then, there has really not been articulated
any similar set of innovative strategic and concrete
nitiatives for the North.” (Livio Di Matteo, Sept/9/2011)

As the provincial election campaign begins, undoubtedly the need to articulate northern issues will be an important one.  The conventional wisdom would probably argue that the most important issues are jobs and the economy, followed by health care.  A glance at the “northern platforms” of the three parties certainly would suggest that the economy is an important focus and there are indeed some similarities across the three main parties when it comes to the economy.

The New Democratic Party argues the North has been ignored by the provincial government and is pledging “respect for the North. ”  Its northern policy wants to hire more doctors for under-serviced communities, remove the HST from home heating and electric bills, cap gas prices, create a Northern Ontario legislative committee to address Northern issues and change laws so mining companies must process their raw materials in the province (incidentally, something similar was done a long time ago in Ontario for logs harvested on Crown lands under the rubric of the Manufacturing Condition). 

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